Rina Akatsuka
Important Information D. O. B: '''December 12, 1991 '''Gender: Female Marital Status: Single Last Known Location: On Tour Occupation: Bassist for Readysteady [POW!?] Personality The bassist has a very important role in the band. Though they don't offer the killer solos of the lead guitar, the screeching sounds of the lead singer or the crashing percussion of the drummer, without the calculated background and foundation of the bass guitar, a song would simply fall apart. In a way, Rina is the foundation of both the songs and the band itself- without her, everyone would tear each other apart sooner or later. Rina's possibly the least noticeable girl of the four, both because of how she acts and because of how ridiculous her friends are. When your friends are fearless, violent and sometimes just plain spacey, you kind of have to step up and be the grounded one. And Rina understood that very, very quickly and took on that role, providing the glue that holds the band together. Keiko, the band's drummer, has nicknames for each of her bandmates. Rina's is "Aisu-chan"- literally meaning Ice-chan, or Ice Cube on the band's website. It's a remarkably fitting name. When she wants to be, Rina simply chooses to not be shaken by anything anyone says or does. She's never been cold to her bandmates, but neither Rei's fearlessness nor Keiko's violence holds a candle to Rina's ability to simply not be fazed. When the going gets tough and everyone is freaking out, Rina's the one who keeps a cool head and knows exactly what needs to be done. Rina's self-discipline comes in part from her education. She was always the bright girl, the one that did well in classes and received a classical education in music rather than just learning to play. Her bandmate Izumi (the lead guitarist) may be a better player, but no one is as technically talented with the general construction of a song as Rina. Without her, Izumi's stream-of-consciousness creativity would never make it from the idea stage to a fully-fledged song. Rina's self-discipline also makes her very difficult to persuade, which has its advantages and disadvantages. In many arguments Rina tends to have the final word, despite two of her bandmates possessing very dangerous and strong powers, simply because she's so difficult to sway that once she's made up her mind it's impossible to make her think otherwise. The bright side is that she's very nearly the most unbiased person any of them know, seeing as she's able to see every side of a story before coming to a decision. It's what makes her the mediator in many an argument, making her the glue of the band as well as the glue holding together every song they play. History Rina's story begins as one of diligence and studies... and not a whole lot else. Her parents were basically stereotypes: the type that demanded nothing but perfection from her growing up, so that she would eventually become some big amazing doctor or politician or lawyer and make a million dollars. She went along with it, to the point where she didn’t really have friends- only study partners and the occasional person she had to work with on a project. She was aware of the other girls in the school, but generally kept her distance, especially since any attempt to try to make friends with one of the more lazy students got her chastised by her parents. They thought her friends would end up corrupting her and ruining her perfect grades. Like a good daughter, she stuck to that belief and kept to her studies as much as she could. Until she met Megumi. The two were stuck together by the teacher’s choice for a science project, and right away Rina knew her parents would throw a fit when they found out who she was associating herself with. Megumi wasn’t a bad seed, but she was fidgety and inattentive when it came time to buckle down and focus. When she did apply herself, though, the ideas she came up with for their project were creative endeavors that Rina would have never considered in a million years. The two were a match made in heaven and became friends before Rina’s parents had a chance to complain- the combination of Megumi’s great ideas and Rina’s diligent study skills helped them put together an amazing project that trumped all others in the class. From that point on, the two were inseparable. Over time, Megumi got a little better with her studies and her grades steadily improved, seeing as the academically-gifted Rina was acting as her tutor, and over time Rina felt herself becoming a little more… free. She still studied and kept her grades up, else her parents consider crucifixion, but she had seen what creative ideas could offer her and couldn’t go back to the way she did things before. The two began to take creative classes when they had the option to, and it was in a shared music class that they met Izumi. The girl was something else. If Rina was sobriety and Megumi was a bit of loopy hallucination, then Izumi was a full-blown acid trip. The girl’s grades were pretty bad in everything except music- something Rina’s parents were less than pleased about- but every time she put her hands to an instrument, magic seemed to emanate forth. Even the music teacher was left speechless a few times. Izumi seemed to be the essence of creativity, and that only served to draw Rina to her even more. With the addition of Keiko, a violent girl with a talent for drums, the four became a tight-knit group and eventually came up with the idea to start a rock band. Naturally, Rina’s parents were furious. Two losers and a delinquent? Corrupting their beautiful doctor/lawyer/astronaut-to-be? They demanded until they could demand no more, but Rina’s mind had been made up. She found a cheap bass guitar and began to diligently learn everything she could about the instrument, taking lessons from Izumi when she had the chance, and in her free time began to learn as much as she could about everything needed to run a rock band- how tours worked, how record companies work, how albums were recorded and everything else that she could find, including all of the ins and outs of a record deal. She knew they were going to be big, and that meant they needed to be ready. Their first record deal came soon after they started to get a reputation as a band with some amazing live shows, in part because Izumi had some sort of strange superhuman ability to bend sound and make people see things that weren’t really there. It was filled with congratulations and wild promises, but thanks to her research Rina was able to spot the thievery and bring it up to the rest of the band. Rina’s skills gained in debate club and the help of one seriously angry Keiko helped the band get a rather lucrative deal out of what would have surely been highway robbery. Things were really going the band’s way for a while… until the worst came to pass. An angry fan attacked Megumi after a concert, hospitalizing her and injuring her so badly that it was basically guaranteed that she would never sing again. Rina was perhaps the one who took the news the hardest- she and Megumi had become closer than sisters, and Rina could hardly see anyone capable of taking over for her best friend. Thankfully, rather than having to hold auditions, Izumi’s adopted sister Rei stepped up to the plate. She could sing rather well- better than the rest of the band for sure- and she’d been an unofficial groupie and the band’s number-one fan until the accident, so her introduction into the band was quick and painless. Reassured that their dream wouldn’t die, Rina made it her goal in life to be the greatest bassist she could be. Someone else could be a doctor, she’d make her parents proud in her own way. Miscellaneous Information Rina listens to an extremely small number of bands, and something has to be really good to get her to enjoy it. The only bands Izumi has been able to convince her to listen to/download are Muse, Tool, Wolfmother and Mastodon. The band's drummer, Keiko, constantly tries to mess with Rina simply to try and get under her skin. It doesn't really work. The combination of Rina's excellent negotiating skills and Keiko's generally threatening demeanor have led to a number of lucrative deals made with the band's record label that other, more weak-willed bands would have never gotten. Rina's Soundtrack: *Doll by Scandal *Hysteria by Muse *Pyramid by Wolfmother *Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes *Last Dinosaur by The Pillows *Around The World by the Red Hot Chili Peppers *1901 by Phoenix *The Pot by Tool *Sting of the Bumblebee by Manowar Category:Original Characters (Civilians) Category:Original Characters (Civilians)